


The Meeting

by CrypticShadow8



Series: Man I Love College [1]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, I have no idea where this school is located, Teenagers, Young!Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-14
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-25 11:31:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/638432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrypticShadow8/pseuds/CrypticShadow8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce just wants to make it through freshman orientation and maybe hang out with his new friends. When a strange kid that swears he goes to Shield shows up however, Bruce knows his day just got much more complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> AN: So nervous author here. This is one of my first fanfictions and I never post stuff. I'm excited though so I'm going to do it anyway.
> 
> So this story is a fill for an avengerskinkmeme prompt that I actually made myself. It was never filled and I realized that I wanted to give it a shot myself. I'll put the prompt at the bottom so I don't take up too much space before the story. Basically this story is a college AU that explores the fact that Tony was only 15 when he went to college.
> 
> Summary: Bruce just wants to make it through freshman orientation and maybe hang out with his new friends. When a strange kid that swears he goes to Shield shows up however, Bruce knows his day just got much more complicated.

Bruce Banner sat with his freshman orientation group glad that this was the last "bonding activity" before they declared orientation over. By this point his group had pretty much given up on the proposed activity and most everybody had pulled out their phones and were texting or surfing the web. He looked over to his right and noticed that Clint too had pulled out his phone and was texting someone. Probably Natasha going by the slight smile on his face.

Clint Barton was Bruce's roommate and, like Bruce, was a freshman at Shield University. They had both arrived three days ago when freshman orientation began and Bruce had been incredibly relieved when they met. Bruce had been worried all summer about what his roommate would be like. Bruce was in general a quiet person and he had endured his fair share of bullying in school for that along with his love for learning and science. He had become especially worried when he learned that his roommate to be was not a typical freshman but instead was a 20 year old who had taken a couple of years off after high school to be in the real world. By the time it was actually time for Bruce to begin school he had worked himself into a frenzy with possible scenarios about how his new roommate would make his life miserable.

Actually meeting Clint had been a pleasant surprise. He was really nice and very down to earth. Apparently he hadn't initially thought that he was smart enough for college and as an orphan he didn't feel like he had anywhere to go, so after he left high school he joined a circus where he put his archery skills to use. A year and a half later though he was contacted by a good friend of his, Natasha Romanoff. Natasha had been a year behind Clint in high school and her and Clint had been best friends for most of their lives. Natasha had been looking for Clint after he dropped off the radar and was happy to have finally found him. She told him about how she was attending Shield University and how she loved it. Shield was different than a lot of other Universities. They were more laid back and intimate and yet at the same time had high standards and were considered one of the top schools in the country. They also had a plethora of majors including, as Natasha was quick to inform Clint, Archery. Clint agreed to apply and low and behold he had been accepted. He decided that he would only minor in Archery though, and major in Physical Education. He wanted to be able to help kids like himself, who didn't have much confidence in their academic skills, to see that they weren't useless.

Clint introduced Bruce to Natasha, who in turn introduced Clint and Bruce to her two friends Steve Rogers and Thor Odinson. Steve was a sophomore like Natasha who she had become fast friends with when she had done her freshman orientation. He was a tall muscular blonde with blue eyes and a kind smile. He was an Art major and a member of the football team. Thor was also tall, muscular, blonde, and on the football team and the two of them dwarfed Natasha who was around 5'6" and was very pretty with long red hair and a slim build. She was a Dance major with a concentration in classical ballet. Thor was a foreign exchange student who was only supposed to be a Shield for a semester but had apparently already been there for 3. Nobody seemed to be quite sure what he was studying.

Bruce couldn't believe that he had only been at Shield for 3 days and already he had so many friends. This was more friends then he'd pretty much had in his life. He was always more of the kind of person who hung out with only one friend and didn't do much of the whole group thing. He felt a little insecure about being the youngest in the group with Clint, Natasha, and Steve all being 20 and Thor being 21. He figured it was fine though since it didn't seem like the others minded and he had always been considered mature for his age.

Bruce glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that they had twenty more minutes before their orientation leader was supposed to come back and dismiss them. He couldn't wait. Clint had mentioned something earlier about possibly meeting up with the others to go to a coffee shop on campus and Bruce was definitely feeling the need for caffeine after being stuck in one room with a bunch of strangers for the past four hours.

"Wow. Who knew freshman orientation was this boring? It's a good thing I missed it."

Bruce jumped and looked up to see who had spoken. The room had been pretty much silent save for the sound of people's fingers on their phones for at least the past half hour so the sudden talking was a surprise. Looking around he saw that speaker was a boy who had just walked through the door into the room where they were all seated. The boy was fairly young, looking around age 13 and had dark messy hair. He held himself with a confidence that was rarely seen in someone that young. Bruce figured the kid had to be lost. Why else would he be wondering around a college campus? Bruce looked back down figuring that the kid would realize he was in the wrong place and leave. Out of the corner of his eye Bruce saw someone sit in the seat on his left. Looking up again he saw it was the boy.

"So what's up?" The boy asked looking over at Bruce and Clint. They were currently the only two people sitting at their table. "Like I said this place looks mega boring. Like aren't you guys supposed to be doing activities or something? I mean not that I blame you for not doing them. They were probably lame things like trust falls and finger painting or whatever. It's supposed to end in a few minutes anyway right? I really didn't even need to show up but I figured what the heck, it's all part of the experience right? I'm Tony by the way."

Bruce just stared at the kid for awhile completely baffled. First off, he didn't know it was even possible for someone to talk that fast. Like seriously, did the boy not need to breathe? And secondly, why was the kid even here in the first place?! Bruce looked over to Clint and noticed that the young man looked as shocked as he felt. Bruce caught his eye and Clint mouthed "what" to him. Bruce just shrugged his shoulders and focused his attention back on Tony.

Because he couldn't think of any other response Bruce slowly extended his hand to the boy. "My name's Bruce." Tony shook Bruce's hand and then looked at Clint clearly waiting for and introduction from him as well. Clint rolled his eyes before extending his hand too.

"I'm Clint. Why are you here?" Bruce resisted the urge to facepalm at Clint's blatant question. "Are you lost or something? Do you need help finding your mommy?"

Tony, who had been shaking Clint's hand, quickly snatched his hand away looking completely insulted. "No I am not lost! I'm supposed to be here. I go to this school!"

Bruce tried to hold in his snicker but still managed to let a snort escape. Clint didn't even try to restrain himself and just began laughing wholeheartedly.

"Yeah right you go here," Clint managed to force out between laughs. "You're like what twelve? Do you have a sibling who goes here or something? Did you and your family come to see them off?"

Bruce thought that actually sounded like a reasonable explanation for Tony's presence. There were a lot of families who decided to stay through orientation so that they could spend as much time with their children as possible before school started. Maybe Tony had come with one such family and had wandered off on his own.

Tony looked highly affronted at Clint's accusations. "I'm not 12! I'm 15! And I totally go here. And actually yeah my brother does go here and that's why I decided to go to this school. My dad wanted me to go to MIT but Shield seemed much cooler especially since my brother was already here."

Clint had finally managed to calm down some but he still let out a giggle every few seconds.

"Ok," Clint snickered, "If you go here what's your major?"

"I'm pursuing a triple major in Engineering, Robotics, and Mechanics with a minor in Business."

Even Bruce had to laugh at that one.

"Hahaha," laughed Clint. "That isn't even possible! You're just making stuff up kid! You're funny though." Bruce agreed. He was double majoring in Chemistry and Biology and the university had made him bring all kinds of recommendations and paperwork just to let him do that. Shield took their standards pretty seriously and they didn't believe in setting their students up for failure.

Tony opened his mouth to say something else but before he could the orientation leader entered the room.

"Ok guys," the overly perky upper classman stated while clapping his hands together, "this officially ends freshman orientation! I hope everybody had a great time and remember, the friends you made here in orientation may just be your friends for the rest of your life."

Around the room people began grabbing their things and filing out of the room, everyone eager to move onto their various plans for the day. Clint also got up and grabbed Bruce's arm, effectively pulling him up out of his seat and out of the room.

"Come on Bruce. Natasha said her and the guys are already at the coffee shop and waiting for us. It's right across the street so it won't take us but a minute to get there."

Bruce allowed himself to be manhandled out of the building and towards their destination. Looking behind them he saw that Tony had followed them out of the building and seemed intent to follow them to the coffee shop.

Bruce nudged Clint with his shoulder and leaned in to whisper to him. "Hey that weird kid's following us."

Clint glanced behind them and sighed. "Hey kid don't you have some place to be?"

Tony just smiled and continued to follow them. "I definitely heard you mention a coffee shop," Tony stated as he sped up a little to try to decrease the distance between him and the other two. "I am in serious coffee withdrawal so that's perfect. There's no way I'll be able to navigate this campus and find my dorm without taking in massive amounts of caffeine. I figure I'd just tag along with you guys seeing as how we're friends and all." Tony smirked annoyingly at the two others but at the same time there was genuine hope in his eyes.

Bruce faced forward once again and leaned over to whisper to Clint. "What do we do now? He seems determined to keep up this whole "he goes to this college" charade and we have no idea who he actually is or where he belongs." Bruce could feel his anxiety rising. He really didn't know what they should do about the kid.

"Whatever," sighed Clint. "He has to go home to his family eventually. We'll just let him come with us to the coffee shop maybe he'll fess up to where he's supposed to be."

Bruce hoped that would work out and this wasn't a case where the boy ( _Tony_ he reminded himself) had run away from home and had no intention of going back. At least they knew that he had a brother that attended the school. That information might end up useful if they had to try to locate Tony's family their selves.

The slightly mismatched group continued through campus and then crossed the street when they reached the crosswalk. Right beside the crosswalk stood a building which read: Caffeinaholics Coffee Shop. It was a small, quaint place with a homey feel. Through the window Bruce could see people sitting at tables in comfortable looking chairs sipping coffee from big, multicolor, ceramic cups. Further back he could see that some people were eating what appeared to be full plates of food so he guessed the coffee shop served meals as well.

Clint walked ahead of Bruce and opened the door. "I think I saw them sitting in that corner over there." Bruce looked where Clint was pointing and sure enough he saw Natasha, Thor, and Steve sitting at a large table near the back and already sipping on drinks. He began to walk through the door that Clint was still holding open but Tony rushed past him. Shaking his head Bruce followed.

Clint led the way to the table and immediately sat down. The three already seated at the table looked up and smiled then looked confused as Tony sat down beside Clint. Tony immediately picked up a menu that was on the table and flipped to the section listing the different coffee beverages. Bruce slid into the seat beside him and looked around the table. Natasha had her eyes narrowed at Tony as he was a bug that needed to be crushed beneath her heel. Steve had a look of adorable confusion on his face. He looked like he wanted to say something but just couldn't figure out where this little person had come from. Thor just looked cheerful as always though there was a slight look of curiosity in his eyes. Clint looked like he was having a seizure he was shaking so hard in silent laughter. Tony was oblivious to all of this as he continued to look through the menu, muttering under his breath about things like caffeine levels and optimal amounts of energy intake. Bruce sighed (which was quickly becoming a common occurrence) and realized that it was up to him to handle introductions.

"Hey guys, this is Tony." Bruce tried to sound cheery but he knew his tone was more longsuffering than anything. "Tony this is Steve, Thor, and Natasha."

Tony finally looked up from the menu and smiled charmingly at the 3 non-freshman. "Hello. It is very nice to meet you and may I say that you are all incredibly good looking." Tony waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Bruce face palmed and wondered if he could just crawl under the table and never come out. "Well guys I need caffeine like stat so I'm just going to go and order my first serving. See you cool cats in a minute."

Tony stood up and walked over to the counter to order his drink. Everyone then turned to look at Bruce. "Hey don't look at me. The kid just showed up in orientation and then followed us here."

Steve looked over at the counter where Tony was bouncing in excitement while he ordered his drink. "Where did he come from? He looks so young… shouldn't he be with his family?" Steve had a look on his face like he just found an adorable puppy on the street that was covered in maggots. He wanted to get the puppy help but didn't really want to touch it.

"I don't know. He says that he's 15 and has a brother that goes here."

Clint snickered from his seat beside Bruce. "Yeah but the kid also says he goes here and is pursuing a triple major. The kid is either delusional or a pathological liar. He's pretty amusing though." Bruce rolled his eyes. Of course Clint would be focusing on the fact that Tony was good for a laugh and not on the fact that they had a possible runaway on their hands.

Steve seemed to agree with Bruce's assessment though. "Do you think we should do anything? Like take him to campus police? What if he's in trouble or something?" Steve was becoming more worked up with every question and Bruce definitely didn't want to deal with a panicked Steve on top of the whole Tony situation.

"I figured we'd just feel it out for awhile. Maybe he just had a fight with his family or something and needed a little bit of time away from them. I say we just let him hang out with us for a little while and then see if he'll be willing to go home afterwards or at least let us contact his brother. If that doesn't work then we can get campus police involved." Bruce looked around at the others nervously after he finished speaking. He wasn't usually the kind of person to take charge of a situation but for some strange reason he felt responsible for Tony.

The others agreed with Bruce's plan and everyone relaxed and began to talk freely. Before long Tony came back and was actually able to join easily in the conversation. He was very amusing and charismatic and to Bruce's surprise very smart. Bruce found himself talking enthusiastically with Tony about science much to the amusement of the others.

Time passed quickly with everyone talking to each other about various topics. Everyone got up and got refills for their drinks when they realized they'd reached the bottoms of their cups (Tony had gotten 4 refills which actually worried Bruce cause really Tony was only about 5'3 and looked only about 110 pounds. Seriously how much coffee could his body take?). Looking at the clock on the wall Bruce saw that 3 hours had already passed. A quick glance out the window confirmed that it was beginning to get dark outside. His brainwave seemed to pass through the group because suddenly everyone was checking the time and looking out the window. Finally Steve spoke up.

"Hey guys I think I gotta get going. Residence Life called me earlier and said I was getting a roommate today and he should be moved in by now." Everyone murmured in agreement and began drinking the last of their drinks. The atmosphere became a little awkward as everyone looked over at Tony wondering how they should handle the situation. Bruce was actually a little sad, realizing that this was probably the last time he would see Tony. Tony was really funny and unlike most people, was able to keep up with Bruce when he talked about science. Maybe Tony would come back to visit his brother again and Bruce would be able to see him again.

Finally Clint broke the silence. "Well kid," he said while clasping his hand on Tony's shoulder. "This has been fun and all but I really think it's time for you to get back to where you're supposed to be."

Tony shrugged off Clint's hand and pouted, which Bruce had to admit was pretty adorable. "I am where I'm supposed to be. I told you I go here! Sheesh! Why does no one believe me?"

Clint sighed in exasperation and threw his hands up. "I don't know, maybe it's because you're 15!"

Bruce turned to Tony and spoke calmly. "Can you at least call your brother and tell him to meet us here? Maybe we could talk to him and he could explain things to us."

Tony rolled his eyes but agreed. He pulled out his (ridiculously expensive looking) phone and dialed a number. After a few moments someone answered and Tony's face lit up as he began to speak. "Rhodey! Hey man I've been here for hours and hours and you have yet to see your lil bro! Hahaha whatever you know you love me. Come see me and meet my new friends. Hey I am completely capable of making friends! I'm at some coffee shop on campus. Hahaha yeah you really should have known. Yeah that's the one. You'll be here in 5 minutes? Ok see you then."

Tony hung up the phone and then looked back at the group. "Well I'm going to grab one more drink for the road. My brother said he'll be here in like 5 minutes." He then walked over to the counter to get yet another coffee. Bruce could see that the barista was wary to give him anymore caffeine but Tony turned on the puppy dog eyes and she was smitten.

Suddenly Bruce heard the bell over the door of the coffee shop ring, announcing a new arrival. He looked over and noticed that the customer was a tall African American man in a Shield University letterman jacket. He stood in the entrance of the door and looked around as if he was looking for something.

"James!" Bruce's head snapped around at Thor's loud and sudden exclamation. He realized that Thor was waving to the man at the door and the man waved back before walking over. Bruce realized this guy James must be on the football team with Thor and Steve.

"Hi James," said Steve cheerfully. "How are you today?"

"I'm great. I'm actually just here to meet my—"

James didn't get to finish his statement because he was suddenly attacked by a small fast blur. For a second Bruce just sat there confused as to what had just happened. He wasn't the only one either. The whole table seemed to be in a daze. After a moment he realized that the thing that attacked James was actually Tony who now had his arms and legs wrapped around the man as he was engulfed in a hug and spun in circles.

"Rhodey! I haven't seen you in forever! You didn't come home once over summer break." James seemed to be trying to put Tony done but Tony was stubbornly hanging on.

"Maybe I didn't go home so that I wouldn't have to deal with a brat like you." Even though his words were harsh James had a smile on his face and there was obvious affection in his eyes. Tony must have seen it so because his face broke out in the biggest smile Bruce had seen all day. Tony quickly gave James a kiss on the cheek and then dropped back to the ground. He turned around and faced the group at the table and smiled. Everyone just stared in shock, confused by what had just occurred.

Steve broke out of his shock first and decided to speak for everyone. "Ah so Tony, is this your ah… brother?" Bruce could tell that Steve was trying to not be rude but at the same time was thinking the same thing as everyone else. Tony and James did not look anything like brothers. Though at the same time there were plenty of circumstances that could explain their situation so it wouldn't do to judge.

Surprisingly James started laughing at Steve's statement. "Tony have you been telling people we're brothers again?"

Tony looked affronted by James' question and folded his arms over his chest. "What kind of question is that? Of course I did, I mean we are brothers after all." Tony tried to sound nonchalant but Bruce could hear the hurt in his voice and see the uncertainty in his eyes. James apparently noticed it too because he stopped laughing and threw an arm over Tony's should pulling him into his side.

"I was just kidding buddy. Of course we're brothers." James then looked up and addressed the rest of the group. "Hey guys, I see you've had the displeasure of meeting my little brother Tony. We aren't biologically related but I've known this little guy since before he was born. Our parents are old friends and I have practically raised him. I apologize for any trouble he's put you through."

Everyone at the table looked at each other not knowing if their job of Tony-sitting was over now that his brother had shown up or if they should still figure out where Tony was supposed to be. Bruce decided to speak up. "Um… actually… we were kind of wondering where Tony is supposed to be. He just showed up in freshman orientation earlier and we don't really know where he came from."

James stared at Bruce with a confused expression for a minute then looked down at Tony who appeared to be trying (and failing) to hold in his laughter.

"Get this Rhodey. They don't believe that I go here!"

Rhodey raised an eyebrow at that information. "Did you tell them who you were?"

Tony rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Now what would be the fun in that care bear?"

Bruce was definitely confused now. What did Tony's identity have to do with him going to this school? No matter who he was he was still a kid way too young to be in college.

Rhodey shook his head in exasperation before talking to the group again. "Well guys this really annoying 15 year old that has forced his self on you is none other than Tony Stark."

Bruce could do nothing but stare in shock. In the background he could hear Clint's loud exclamations and Tony's cackling but he was too busy trying to reboot his brain to really pay attention. He could not believe that the person he had just spent most of the day with. Not only was he from one of the richest families in the world but he was a certified genius! He'd built his first circuit board at the age of 4! No wonder he'd been able to keep up with Bruce when they were discussing scientific breakthroughs earlier. Bruce blinked and forced himself to focus back on the conversation going on. He realized that the others were discussing the fact that Tony did actually attend Shield University and was pursuing a triple major because hey, he was a genius and could handle it.

"Really though, I should go." Tony grabbed his abandoned to-go coffee cup and gestured towards the door. "My people should be done moving my stuff into my dorm by now and I have to make sure they didn't break any of my equipment."

Everyone took that as their cue as well and began placing their ceramic cups in the bin on top of the trashcan. Everyone then began exchanging phone numbers since Bruce still didn't have anybody's and once Tony saw they were giving Bruce numbers he wanted them as well. Finished with adding the numbers to his phone Tony grabbed Rhodey and began to drag him out of the coffee shop after throwing a halfhearted goodbye over his shoulder at the group. Pausing at the door though, Tony stopped and turned back around.

"Hey Bruce? We should totally meet up and do some of those experiments that we talked about." With that Tony turned back around and grabbed Rhodey once again, making his way out the door.

Bruce just looked after him and smiled. College was going to be awesome.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Yay 1st part down! I don't know when I'll get the next part out but I do have the next 5 plots planned out so hopefully soon.
> 
> This was the original prompt I posted:
> 
> So I absolutely love love love college AUs but most of them I've realized have everyone around the same age or with Steve as the youngest. I want a story that emphasizes that Tony went to college at 15 so even if everyone was in the same year (not that they have to be!) he would still be at least 3 years younger than the others.
> 
> How do they become friends? How do the others feel about him hanging out with them? I put Gen but any pairing is fine though it's probably best if Tony isn't with anyone given his age.
> 
> Bonus: Tony stays in the dorms and one of the others is his roommate and they aren't sure how to deal with it and end up being kind of a mother hen/overly protective.
> 
> Bonus: The others see Tony kinda as a kid sibling so Tony keeps trying to prove that he is just as cool and "grown up" as they are.
> 
> Bonus for above bonus: While Tony is trying to pretend that he is mature as the others he convinces them to take him with them to a party (not an overly sexy one where people are just having orgies) and by the time they are ready to leave Tony is asleep on the couch and someone has to carry him home and put him to bed.


End file.
